Reviewing and recommending good dining experiences in DC, Chicago and beyond.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

One. Six One

What a meal - one that none of the seven us will soon forget. Unfortunately it will be remembered as one of our worst dining experienced. The best part of our evening was that the manager listened to our concerns and did not charge us of any of our entrees. He does get my respect and I appreciate his effort to make the best of a very bad situation.

What happened? Our service was terrible, but I think our server was not a regular (I certainly hope not). We didn't have enough menus and not all of our water glasses were filled. It took forever just to order our first bottle of sparkling wine, which did not arrive for 20 minutes or so. Our second bottle was red wine, and we had to stop him from pouring the red wine into our champagne glasses (without of course letting us check the label or sample the bottle). The food service was also unbelievably slow, but I don't blame our server for that. To add perspective, we were seven of eleven total diners that evening, so it wasn't as if there was a lot of distractions.

In addition to the service we had some major food issues. On the positive side, our starters weren't that bad. We all enjoyed our chicken satay (a nice and spicy peanut sauce, and the mushroom pizette was decent though cold. Their version of a caprese salad was ok but weird. There was plenty of mixed green lettuce (strange for caprese), only two slices of tomato and little mozzarella balls. Pesto was also added for creativity. Not a disaster, just strange.

Another highlight was Ashley's lobster bisque (possibly the best dish of the night), though she ordered it as an appetizer and arrived with the main course. This did not matter in the end because our entrees all arrived cold. Collectively we sampled the lamb, chicken, steak and noodles with tofu. Erica's steak was almost inedible given the amount of salt and butter used. I don't know about Carson's lamb, but Jon did not touch his chicken or vegetables. Sara and I had the noodles with tofu, and we had our own thoughts. Actually, I finished my dish and thought it was not very good but worth consuming. What we did not expect was how much hot spice was used. There was no warning preparing us for the excessive sweat inducing heat. I happen to love spicy food, but even I know that kind of spice needs a warning label and is borderline consumable for the general public.

Yes, the two hour ordeal was as bad as it sounds. Like I said, the manager comped the entrees, which was the appropriate action in my opinion (we enjoyed the alcohol and the starters were only ok but edible). This is an example of an interesting concept (plates from around the world), with a nice interior (cozy lounge and all) but poor execution. I wish them the best, and if someone wants to take me for a redo I'm available.